Inventors have expended great efforts over the years in their attempts to obtain an optimal tuning system for use with stringed musical instruments, such as guitars. These efforts are indicative of the need for improvement in this field.
Standard guitars typically include six strings corresponding to the musical notes E, A, D, G, B, and E. Guitar strings are placed under tension and extend at a certain height above the guitar body including the neck and a fretboard mounted on the neck. In order to produce the sounds associated with musical notes, the strings are placed in contact with two critical contact points. The first critical contact point is generally at the nut of the instrument, which is usually arranged on the guitar neck adjacent to the first fret of the fretboard. The second critical contact point is generally at the bridge of the instrument which is provided on an opposing end of the fretboard on the body of the instrument. The strings are fixed at a distance beyond the critical contact points at the nut and the bridge.
As is known to those skilled in the stringed instrument art, the sound produced by the strings is affected by the harmonic length (i.e., the distance between where the strings contact the critical contact points at the nut and the bridge). Harmonic tuning of the strings is accomplished by adjusting the distance between the critical contact points at the bridge and nut on the guitar.
The tension of the strings is a second factor which significantly affects the tone. String tension may be adjusted by tightening or loosening the string at the nut or bridge end of the guitar. Adjustment of the tension in the strings affects the pitch thereof and this is commonly known as pitch tuning.
The process of pitch tuning is not very difficult and may be performed by guitar players who have a reasonable ear for the proper pitch associated with various notes. However, harmonic tuning has heretofore been a difficult and time consuming process which needs to be done each time the guitar strings are replaced, especially if a new string gage is used. Most guitar players do not have the ability to harmonically tune their guitars and have therefore previously been forced to hire a professional to perform harmonic tuning operations.
Prior art tuning systems required each string of a guitar to be independently pitch and harmonically tuned by adjusting individual tension control elements and separately adjusting the distance between the critical contact points at the nut and the bridge. Proper harmonic and pitch tuning is obtained when strings ultimately reach a tuned state after many individual adjustments of separate tensioning and distance modifying controls.
The difficulty in tuning prior art guitars is caused, in part, by the structure of various components of the tuning systems. These components may include a nut, tuning pegs or string holders for retaining one end of the strings adjacent to the nut, the bridge including critical contact points and saddles, or other string holding devices arranged to retain an end of the strings in the vicinity of the bridge critical contact points. The strings used in prior art guitars have also contributed to the difficulty in bringing them into a proper tuned state (i.e., a convergence state where the string is both pitch and harmonically tuned).
Tremolos are well-known devices that are typically used with electric guitars to simultaneously and significantly either reduce or increase the tension of the guitar strings of the guitar so that a desired sound effect variation is obtained. Significant improvements in tremolo devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,171,661; 4,967,631; 4,497,236; and 4,882,967, all of which have been issued to Floyd D. Rose, the inventor of the present invention. Use of prior art tremolos often contributes to causing strings to go out of tune due to movement of the strings with respect to the critical contact points.
An effort to simplify the tuning process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,218. This patent teaches the use of strings having a ball affixed at a first end which is sold to the guitar user, who then fixes a ball to a second position on the string at an estimated desired position. This patent also discloses a lever to which the string having a ball at one end is affixed. The lever is pivotable from a first position at which the string is relaxed to a second position at which the string is placed under tension.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,904 discloses a string having a ball affixed to each end thereof. There is no disclosure in the '904 patent regarding criticality of the string length. The strings are affixed to a string holding device beyond the nut critical contact points at one end and is affixed to slidable saddle members at a second end beyond corresponding bridge critical contact points. The length of the string between the location where it is secured in the saddle member and the bridge critical contact point is relatively long. This long distance contributes to the associated strings going out of tune easily.
An effort to shorten the vibration length between a termination point at which one end of a string is retained and a critical contact point was made by the inventor of U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,740. The '740 patent discloses a bullet that is secured to a string at one end thereof. This reference teaches that substantial force should be applied between the bullet and the member in which it is captured.
The prior art fails to teach various aspects of the present invention which greatly simplify tuning procedures and replacement of strings. In particular, the prior art does not disclose a string for use in a guitar, or a set of guitar strings, which is precut to a particular length which results in convergence to the harmonic length when the string is pulled to its proper pitch. To this end, the prior art also fails to disclose a method of manufacturing strings for use with a guitar wherein a precise length corresponding to a convergence length at which harmonic and pitch tuning is simultaneously obtained is determined prior to cutting of the string to a precise corresponding length.
Further, the prior art does not teach using a string having a bullet arranged at each end thereof wherein the string exists the bullet as a single strand and remains unencumbered along the entire length between the bullets.
The prior art has also failed to disclose a tuning system which quickly and easily accomplishes simultaneous pitch and harmonic tuning. There is also no disclosure in prior art guitars of a device which automatically urges a string having an anchor thereon along the longitudinal axis of the string so that the string is retained in a secured position.